Category: Other
China says foreign direct investment up 45.6 percent
BEIJING, July 11, 2008 (AFP) – Foreign direct investment into China grew by 45.6 percent in the first half of this year, the government said Friday.Foreign enterprises invested 52.4 billion dollars in China from January to June, the commerce ministry said in a statement posted on its website. The ministry did not give separate data […]
Indian inflation at 11.89 percent
NEW DELHI, July 11, 2008 (AFP) – India’s annual inflation rate rose to 11.89 percent as the price of manufactured goods, food and fuel increased, according to the latest government data on Friday.The figure for the week ended June 28 was up from 11.63 percent for the previous week, according to the Wholesale Price Index, […]
Maldives finance minister resigns
July 11, 2008 (LBO) – The finance minister of Maldives has resigned amid speculation that he may launch his own presidential bid through a different party, media reports from the archipelago said.The Minivannews.com, a web based news service, said finance minister Gasim Ibrahim had given his resignation to president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, but the president […]
US refueling tanker contract to go up for new bid
WASHINGTON, July 9, 2008 (AFP) – The Pentagon Wednesday reopened a 35-billion-dollar contract to produce a new generation of air refueling aircraft, acknowledging flaws in an earlier air force decision to award it to Northrop Grumman.In an embarrassing about-face, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Northrop Grumman and rival Boeing would be asked to submit […]
Oil prices calm after US$10 slump
NEW YORK, July 9, 2008 (AFP) – Oil prices held steady Wednesday after two days of sharp declines, as news that Iran tested a long-range missile capable of hitting Israel pushed up prices temporarily. The market shook off news of another slump in US oil inventories and also digested a pledge by the Group of […]
Indian traders down shutters to protest at retail giants
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, July 10, 2008 (AFP) – Traders in India’s southern Kerala state shut up shop on Thursday in a show of opposition to the entry of retail giants into the area.The president of the Kerala Merchants and Traders Coordination Committee, the largest body of traders in the communist-ruled state, said the strike was “total.” “Around […]
Crowd-powered NowPublic news site buys rumor website
SAN FRANCISCO, July 10, 2008 (AFP) – Virtual news-gathering website NowPublic said Thursday it has bought rumor-backing Truemors to go beyond eye witness accounts to exposing developments “bubbling under the hood.” The deal, for an undisclosed amount, expands the news coverage of the Vancouver-based NowPublic, which delivers news and events recorded by eyewitnesses using their […]
‘s Noor Islamic Bank to launch operations in Maldives
July 9, 2008 (LBO) – Dubai’s Noor Islamic Bank has inked a deal to open up an Islamic banking unit in the Indian Ocean Island of Maldives, officials said.Operating under the name Noor Islamic Maldives Private Limited, the Dubai-based bank will hold 33 percent in the new company, Maldives Monetary Authority Governor, Abdulla Jihad said […]
Sri Lanka to get Chinese support in tea cultivation
July 09, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea industry expects to get support from China to improve plant breeding and cultivation, Sri Lanka Tea Board chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi said. “We hope to do that in the very near future at a government-to-government level,” Hettiarachchi said. He said scientists from both countries, both big tea producers, […]
Internet flaw could let hackers take over the Web
SAN FRANCISCO, July 9, 2008 (AFP) – Computer industry heavyweights are hustling to fix a flaw in the foundation of the Internet that would let hackers control traffic on the World Wide Web. Major software and hardware makers worked in secret for months to create a software “patch” released on Tuesday to repair the problem, […]
Top climate scientist blasts G8 climate pledge
PARIS, July 8, 2008 (AFP) – One of the world’s most respected climate scientists on Tuesday slammed the G8 summit’s goal of halving global warming emissions by 2050 as “worse than worthless.” Leaders of the world’s richest nations, meeting in Japan, “are taking actions that guarantee that we deliver to our children climate catastrophes that […]
”’ quota unconstitutional, court rules
BUCHAREST, July 9, 2008 (AFP) – Romanians have a right to doom and gloom, the country’s constitutional court ruled Wednesday, blocking a government move obliging radio and television stations to broadcast good and bad news in equal proportions.The court ruled that a new law, which stipulated that upbeat news should make up half of all […]